The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
by Dude13
Summary: If only Christmas could be as spectacular as the first of April at Foster's...[Oneshot]


For anyone who's confused - I originally posted this April 1st, and considering the plot and date, I attempted an April Fool's joke and purposely gave the story a fake summary and title. I entitled it "Repression of the Heart" and in the summary I described the story as a FrankiexBloo romance fic.

I changed it to it's original title and summary though, because not only is April Fool's long over, but I'm afraid some readers might have taken one glance at the fake description and title and are taking me seriously about this.

Frankie and Bloo? _Romantically_ involved? (Shudders) Oh Lord, perish the thought! Seriously, that's what I would like to call an extremely unholy union. I actually thought it would be too outrageous and people would see right through the joke, although that almost wasn't the case (huge apology to anyone I freaked out).

Anyway, as of April 5th, I'm removing the prank title and summary.

* * *

"Uh…."

Mac elicited a puzzled grunt while Goo just gawked mutely in bewilderment after a certain imaginary blob strode into the room and positioned himself directly between the children and the TV. Although his presence himself didn't exactly mean that there was any need to be alarmed, the fact that he just stood and smiled silently at the pair for a go half minute left his friends slightly unsettled.

"Um, Bloo?" Goo finally spoke up as she eyed him warily. "Could you… y'know, move to the side or something? Just a little bit?"

"Yeah," Mac chimed along. "We were just watching-"

"Mac," Bloo suddenly announced calmly. "You will _not_ be attacked with any gardening equipment."

"Wait, I'm not gonna _what_ now?" his perplexed creator murmured.

"And Goo," the imaginary friend continued as he nodded politely to the girl. "You will _not_ be struck by any cooking utensils anytime soon."

"…Er….thank you?" the genuinely befuddled child muttered as she cocked her head in profound confusion. Bloo's already considerably broad grin widened a little as he nodded wordlessly, right before he withdrew his stubby appendages from behind his back with a triumphant cry of,

"_APRIL FOOLS_!"

"_AUGH_!" Mac roared as the imaginary friend struck him dead on the forehead with a well-aimed plastic flowerpot.

"_OW_!" Goo screeched as a hurled wooden spoon hit her right between the eyes. Both eight-year-olds hastily erupted into an unholy chorus of agonized squeals as they immediately began to tend to their injuries.

"BLOO!" Mac yowled furiously. "What are you _doing_?"

Their azure assailant could barely answer as he burst out laughing uproariously so hard his sides ached.

"Heeheeheeheeheehee!" Bloo giggled madly like a giddy schoolgirl. "Oh, that was _perfect_! Hahahahaha! You guys didn't suspect a thing! Heehee!"

"_What_?" his creator snapped.

"April fools, suckers!" Bloo sniggered with a sly wink. "I'd like to see you try a prank as ingenious as _that_!"

Goo winced as she tenderly nursed a rapidly spreading bruise. "You call _that_ an April Fools Day prank?" she snarled incredulously.

"What else?" Bloo snickered deviously. "I _totally_ got you two! Hahaha! You never had a chance!"

"That's because most people are much more creative than that!" Mac growled. "That wasn't an April Fool's Day joke! That's not how it works at _all_!"

"Pfft! Oh, yeah right!" the imaginary friend scoffed incredulously. "You're only saying that because I totally owned you guys!"

"Mac _is_ right!" Goo hissed. "Pranks are fun and well-thought out and stuff! You're using today as an excuse to chuck stuff! That's not a practical joke!"

"More like the greatest, most awesome practical joke _ever_!" Bloo just proclaimed triumphantly with a fat grin. "No one would _ever_ suspect getting nailed by the same thing someone else just told them they're _not_ gotta hit them with!"

"Bloo, it's not a good prank! It's _not_!" Mac only persisted stubbornly as he gingerly touched the large bump now adorning his forehead.

"Sheesh! Oh knock it off, crybaby." Bloo replied condescendingly with a role of his eyes. "At least neither of you has to worry about getting hit with a water bottle…or a hardcover edition of _Oliver Twist_."

"Huh?" the boy mumbled stupidly. "What's that supposed to-"

"_YEEEEEEEK_!" Goo shrieked as she watch the blob's lips curl into a fiendish grin. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, don't-"

"APRIL FOOLS!" Bloo bellowed happily as he suddenly procured the respective missiles from behind his back, hurled with all his might, and immediately raced off while snorting with glee.

_THWACK_!

"OWWWWWW!"

_THWACK_!

"OW! _Where_ was he hiding those?"

* * *

"…_Please_ don't tell me you're serious." Frances "Frankie" Foster groaned wearily as she dried a few freshly scrubbed dishes.

"Yeah-huh! Yeah-huh!" Goo piped up as she nodded her head furiously. "Super dead-dead-_dead_ serious!"

"Honestly, what more proof do you want?" Mac whined as he pointed out their bruises and bumps. "Frankie, you have no idea!"

"Yeah! Bloo thinks he can use April Fools as an excuse to just throw stuff at people and stuff!" Goo jabbered angrily. "It's not a prank! It's not a prank at all! It's just being mean! Really, _really_, mean! Look! Look! Look, see where he hit me with the ladle? See it? See it, Frankie? See it? See it?"

As the children bombarded her mercilessly with complaints, the young woman only paused her dish drying to elicit a heavy sigh of exasperation, much to their blatant indignation.

"You're not listeninggggg!" Goo protested and tugged upon Frankie's jacket fiercely.

"No, it's not that!" Frankie shot back as she tried to pry the little one's fingers off. "You both know full well that I'm not the kind of person who gets thrilled to hear certain imaginary friends are using holidays to legitimize their lack of creativity."

"So aren't you going to _do_ something?" Mac demanded. "Bloo's-"

"You _told_ me what he's doing, and believe me, I'm not happy to hear about what he did to you guys." she groaned. "But look, I'm not a miracle worker here! If I stopped whatever I was doing to punish Bloo for misbehaving, I seriously wouldn't get anything done around here! Sorry guys, I do my best, but I have so many other duties around the house to take care of too! We've been through this before!"

"But-" Mac tried to argue.

"Didn't you just hear me?" she scolded. "Look, Mr. Herriman gave me a list today that stretches from here to Miami, I simply don't have the time for-"

"No fair! No fair! No fair!" Goo erupted into a shrill fury of protest.

"Guys, I'm sorry, you're just going to have to deal with on your own! I don't have the time to…"

As the furious argument waged on, Bloo meanwhile stifled a mischievous giggle as he peered from behind the refrigerator, where he had taken refuge a minute ago after he had been attracted by the sound of the clamor. After patting the little stone in his hands for good luck, he tried to muffle a few more snickers before swinging into action.

"Hey, Frankie!" he whooped as he dramatically leapt into the open. "You're _not_ gonna get hit with a small rock today at all!"

"What the?" the startled redhead mumbled as she spotted him. "Bl-"

"APRIL FOOLS!" he yelled joyfully.

_THWACK_!

The missile flew true, and once it struck Frankie instantly clapped a hand to her forehead and let loose with an ear piercing shriek.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH_!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs in pain as her blobbish attacker immediately broke out into an impromptu victory dance.

"Yeeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!" Bloo trembled with mirth as he pumped his little arms ecstatically. "How you like that? Huh? How you like that? Didn't expect that, did you? Who's the prankmaster? Me, that's right! Yeah! You know it, you-"

His triumphant celebration was abruptly interrupted when Mac and Goo suddenly filled the kitchen with their joint horrified screams, much to the imaginary friend's slight irk.

"Oh c'mon, what's _your_ deal?" he sneered. "It's just a little jo-"

The words abruptly died upon his lips as the unmistakable stream crimson seeping through Frankie's fingers. The moment he spotted the first trickles of blood, the little creature's jaw almost hit the floor while he was struck mute in dumb shock.

"_Frankie_!" Mac croaked hoarsely as he instinctively dashed to her side.

"Frankie! Frankie, you okay?" Goo yelped in terror as she hovered around the badly injured young woman. "Frankie? Frankie, you alright?"

After stumbling about almost drunkenly for a few moments, the redhead dropped hard upon her knees with an agonized sob. As she bent over a little, Frankie hastily clutched her injury with her other hand in what appeared to be the nick of time before the blood flow from her wound increased twofold, much to the skyrocketing panic of everyone present.

"_Bloo_!" An immensely frantic Goo glanced at the mortified imaginary friend and screeched shrilly. "_WHAT'D YOU DO_?"

"I…I-I don't know! I don't know!" the horrifically shocked little creature struggled to force out the ugly truth. "I-I didn't m-mean to throw it that hard, I swear!"

"You didn't _mean_ to?" the child screamed incredulously with hands and feet akimbo. "_LOOK AT HER_!"

As the two squabbled, Frankie continued to try and staunch the veritable river of blood that seemed to be practically gushing through her fingers and dripping onto the floor in a growing puddle.

"It's okay! I-it's okay, F-Frankie!" Mac stuttered uncontrollably and trembled like a leaf as he held a dishtowel to her head. "It'll be fine, y-you'll b-be okay, you'll…"

At this point he paused and began taking deep breaths in a feeble attempt to calm himself, as if he was tottering on the verge of hysteria. Frankie meanwhile was unable to do more than shake her head furiously in bitter refusal as her ragged sobs of excruciating agony echoed throughout the room.

"No! No, don't think that!" Mac begged desperately. "Y-you'll be fine, Frankie! You'll be okay, you'll be…oh no…oh, it's, dripping everywhere! _Help_!"

Immediately the frantic Goo darted over and without a second thought clamped her little hands tightly atop the lanky redhead's in an effort to lessen what felt like a steady, continuous flow of scarlet from pouring onto the kitchen tile. As both children did their best to try and implement some crude first-aid, Bloo meanwhile couldn't help but watch dumbly from afar in mute awe of the living nightmare he unwittingly created.

Unfortunately, as awful as the spectacle was before him was, the worst was yet to come.

"Good heavens, _what_ on earth is all that racket?" Mr. Herriman demanded as he suddenly bounded into the kitchen with an extraordinarily familiar old woman hobbling closely behind.

"What's wrong?" Madame Foster asked concernedly as she glanced about. "Gracious, what's all the fuss-"

The newcomers only had to pause and take one look at the hideous sight before everything seemed to explode into utter chaos.

"G-grandma…" Frankie managed a piteous whisper. "H-help…"

The sight off all that blood, from the puddle on the floor to the small streams streaking down the young woman's face instantaneously proved to be too unbearably gruesome for Mr. Herriman to handle. With one glance, the imaginary rabbit mumbled something incomprehensible under his breath, stumbled forward a few steps, and then finally his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fainted in heap.

_THUD_!

Alas, if only Madame Foster took the indescribable shock as half as well as her creation did. The sight of her granddaughter writhing about in pain caused the old woman to pale so rapidly her skin nearly became translucent, and in an instant the stunned creature began to tremble uncontrollably as she shakily reached out towards her grandchild.

"F-Frankie?" she tried to murmur softly as she attempted to make her way forward. "Fra-"

The instant the horrified Bloo watch her abruptly pause to clutch at her her chest with a loud gasp, he was unable to simply stand by and watch this living hell on earth any more.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" The imaginary friend screamed at the top of his lungs to the high heavens, and without a second thought he dashed over to Frankie's side.

"Frankie! Frankie, I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry!" he babbled as he tried to help wipe the gore from her face. "Frankie, please! I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry! I d-d-didn't mean it, I swear! It was supposed to be a joke! Just a stupid April Fools j-j-joke, honest! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm…."

He trailed off once he realized that not only had the young woman raised her head to meet his gaze, but also she was in fact wearing one of the fattest smiles he had ever seen in his entire life, as were the two eight-year-olds by her sides.

"…Huh?" The immensely stunned creature grunted stupidly as he stared dumbly into their faces. "Wait…what the…Frankie, aren't you…"

Wordlessly the smirking redhead simply removed her hands from her face and revealed the several concealed ketchup packets she had smashed against her forehead earlier.

For what felt like an eternity, Bloo found himself unable to do a thing except simply stare at the empty condiment packets as he strove furiously to register the fact it was all a complete hoax.

"Wait…" he whimpered as he pieced everything together. "That's not…hey, you're not…a-and you guys, you're not…oh, _don't_ tell me…"

"Gotcha, Blob-Butt." Frankie whispered triumphantly with as she gave him a soft pat on the head. As Bloo's head seemed to spin in confusion, everyone else dissolved into gut-bursting laughter on the spot.

"Heeheeheeheehee!" Madame Foster giggled like an overexcited three-year-old as she nudged the imaginary friend playfully. "Oh, dearie, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself! I can't say no to a good gag! Hahahahahaha! Oh, mercy!"

"I…I wasn't…" Bloo hastily tried to regain a meager shred of dignity as he began to shine all over with a vibrant blush. "You guys never-"

"Yeeheeheeheehee!" Goo tittered like mad as she made a face. "Oh, yeah right! Yeah right! We _so_ got you! Yeah-huh! Yeah? Now that's _how_ you do a prank! Yeah! Yeah, how you like us now? Huh?"

"I-I…I…you never…y-you never…" he stubbornly tried to defend himself. "Y-you…you didn't……….oh man, I got _so_ owned just now, didn't I?"

The little girl grinned from ear to ear and nodded furiously as she gave him a hearty clap on the back. As the imaginary friend filled the room with his dejected moans, Mac snorted with mirth as he gave Frankie a celebratory high-five.

"Great job! That was _awesome_!" he congratulated her heartily.

"Oh c'mon, you guys helped too." she replied modestly as she wiped the ketchup from her brow.

"Besides, I think major props here need to go to Grandma for bringing the bunny in on it all too. Hey Fuzz-Butt, how'd Grandma ever convince you to play…to…t-to pretend that…uh oh…"

It was at this point that Frankie, along with the others, finally realized that Mr. Herriman had yet to get up off the floor to join in on the shared mirth, and instead continued to lie facedown in a sprawled heap.

"…He doesn't think our joke was funny?" Goo whimpered as she stared at his motionless figure.

Quickly figuring that something was horribly amiss, Frankie scrambled to her feet, scuttled over, and rolled him over as gently as possible. Once it was blatantly obvious that he wasn't playing along and had indeed collapsed in a dead heap, a long, awkward silence descended upon the group. All eyes first lay fixated at the clearly unconscious Mr. Herriman, then in almost perfect unison turned to gaze at an extremely surprised old woman.

"Oh dear…" Madame Foster exclaimed in a stunned whisper, and once she realized everyone's attention was focused onto her, she immediately tried to put on a woefully forced weak smile in response.

"I…I just…" she began to mutter softly in defense. "I didn't…"

"Grandma?" The mortified Frankie interrupted flatly. "Didn't you tell Mr. Herriman I wasn't actually going to get hurt?"

"I…I-I…." her usually eccentrically bold grandmother struggled to defend herself. "Frankie dear, I just thought in the spirit of the holiday…you see, I…I thought I'd be funny if he didn't…if I just told him to follow me, and…a-and…well, obviously I didn't plan on…See, I…I didn't think he'd take one look, and just…I thought…oh, my poor Funny Bunny…"

As she bent over to stroke her creation's head softly, everyone else continued to gawk wordlessly in utter disbelief.

"He's not dead, isn't he?" Mac whined.

"Oh man…you mean he actually thought Frankie…" Bloo tried to inquire before he couldn't help but erupt into the giggles.

"How do you revive a big rabbit?" Goo whimpered as she poked Mr. Herriman's furry bulk.

"Grandma," The incredulous Frankie reminded. "You _specifically_ told me that you'd get him in on the joke after you _explained_ _everything_."

Madame Foster just smiled weakly and fidgeted with her cane for a few moments before answering lamely with a wan grin,

"Uh….A-April Fools?"

**The End **


End file.
